The Soldier, the Corporeal and the Sirenide Rosso
by Gael Grimm
Summary: I posted "Siren Skin" as a follow up to this story but I realized I never posted the first so here it is. Enjoy! Lilith has traveled with Brick for a long time and they aren't what they used to be. Joining up with the other Vault Hunters has changed something about her, especially being around Roland. Rated M for Language and inferences.
1. Familiar Taste of Scythid

"I can't believe this!" Mordecai grumbled as they reached the catch-a-ride.

"Not this shit again." Lilith muttered as she punched up two rocket launcher runners on the terminal.

"Yes this again damn it! I'm a sniper with a bright yellow fucking rifle! Where's the stealth!" He barked out as he took to one runner's turret.

Lilith turned to watch as Roland helped Brick in to the other turret. The Berserker had taken massive damage when they went to find a researcher named Tannis. Brick's left arm was a mass of acid burnt muscle and the blood that ran off him made it difficult to hold the rungs on the side of the runner. The big man grunted and Lilith could see in his face that he was badly banged up . Exchanging an unfriendly look with Roland she turned and scanned the dull Pandora landscape.

The Rust Commons looked about the same as the rest on the dismal rock they had come too, or at least any part she had already seen. The bright cycle rode high in the sky over the ruthless desert that was home to bandits, rakks, spiderants, and scythids. Scythids were responsible for Brick's current condition. She scanned those dry hills and broken roadways reclaimed, in part, by the desert sands; but she saw no other sign of dangers.

Quickly she glanced back at the runners and took in the blood on the side of the one facing her, following it she looked to Brick and his labored breathing made something in her tighten anxiously. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed as she walked over to the bloody runner. Before she reached it she stopped to speak to Roland in the other runner's driver's seat. "Head back to New Haven and tell Zed we're coming. I'll take him back slowly so I don't make things worse." She turned to walk away but Roland grabbed her arm through the bars and turned her back around.

Whatever he had planned to say died in his throat and his eyes went from cold and angry to simply blank. "Just get him there in one piece." he said and released her arm when she nodded so she could walk away.

She watched them drive off as she turned to the runner and carefully climbed the bloody rungs. "We'll be back soon." she told Brick as she wiped the blood from his left eye before it dried it shut.

"Stop woman! I'll be fine!" he roared and she dropped her eyes to her hands. Brick sighed and used his better arm to lift her head. "Let's go see Zed. I'm not so easy to kill." His tone was softer maybe even a little apologetic. Lilith was unsure of how to reply so she climbed down into the driver's seat and headed them to New Haven at a quick but gentle pace.

Roland and Mordecai stood inside the New Haven gate when she arrived, Scooter came around to the front of his small shop to watch them as they unloaded Brick. He even stepped in to help as Brick's boot slipped on a bottom rung and the large man almost fell on his back.

"Try not to cry too much,"Lilith yelled to Brick's back as they moved toward Marcus' shop. He rewarded her effort with a gruff chuckle and a large and bloody middle finger. She smirked to herself and figured he would live another day. At least that was her hope.

Turning to the task at hand she looked down at herself. Her clothes, and most likely the rest of her, were heavy with the blood from bandits, the purple goo from the spiderants, and the clear fluid from those damn scythids. She decided she looked horrifying enough to deal with that damn Pierce woman. She couldn't help Brick so she would content herself with making someone else squirm in her presence. She knew it was vindictive, but hell, that was just how she was.

Helena Pierce was in her office, the only place it ever seemed like she was, waiting to send them on another errand where someone could die. They were Mercenaries, their lives didn't mean anything to her. She saw them all as expendable, and both women knew it. The older woman scowled at Lilith as she walked in; even with the scars that distorted half of Pierce's face Lilith could see the woman's displeasure clearly. Even given the welcome Lilith still walked in brazen as ever and propped a hip on the edge of Pierce's desk. "What did you need?" Lilith asked getting straight to the point.

"I don't know what you and Marcus have been up to, but the lot of you have managed to piss One-Eyed Jack right off. You did it and if you don't fix it this whole town will suffer." Pierce said curling the good side of her face into a recognizable grimace.

"Send the site to or ECHOs. We'll get to it when we can." Lilith said dismissively and began to leave.

"When you can!" Pierce yelled, "People will die!"

The Siren stopped walking but didn't turn around. "Everyone dies!" Lilith snapped. "Just send us the location." She said before walking out.

Now she cares about people dying , Lilith thought as she walked up the ratty street to Dr. Zed's. She would talk to Roland about One-Eyed Jack. He might be after the town but Pierce was right, they had started it with Marcus and his munitions crates.

There were bloody prints on the dirty little infirmary's floor as she walked in and stepped around a white claptrap shaking in the corner and frantically learning a thing or two about robot breathing. Brick sat off to one side of the room heavily bandaged and lightly dozing. To her relief he seemed he would be fine, just a bit more scarred. Quietly she walked over to him and gave him a quick look over.

"Doc says he needs a week." Roland told her as he walked away from where he and Mordecai were arguing. She met him half way so they didn't wake Brick.

"Fuck you Roland, I am not staying in a room with him for a week." The sniper stalked up to them, "Have Princess do it, damn it."

Lilith's eyes squinted at Mordecai as she quickly pulled out her Maliwan SMG and Shoved the barrel in to the soft underside of Mordecai's lower jaw. "Call me that again you Truxican piece of shit-"

"Enough the two of you! Woman, what did Pierce have to say?" Roland interjected. The training he received from the Crimson Lance present in his no-nonsense tone of voice.

"Who the hell are you to order me around?" Lilith snapped her gun still pressed to Mordecai's head and his sword tip now pressed to her ribs. "I don't remember voting for you as our fearless leader."

"Who else is gonna do it? One of you two children? I'm the only one with any official training and it's kept us alive this long. Now, what did she want?"

Lilith heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh as she and the sniper sheathed and holstered their respective weapons. "One-Eyed Jack is threatening to level the town because of our recent pyrotechnics with his illegal property. I think two of us could do it quickly and I have no doubts that he needs to die as soon as possible, as well as any of his maggot friends." Lilith advised as she made her way back to Brick's side, once there she leaned on the wall beside his bed.

"Easy enough then. We'll get the big guy to a comfortable place then you and I will leave in the morning. Mordecai will watch him while we're gone and you can do it the rest of the time." Roland decided

"What the hell? Why do I still have to babysit?"Mordecai whined angrily.

"Lilith seems to have a moral obligation to this and you'll only need to keep an eye on him for a day or two, then you're free." Roland checked his combat rifle's ammo load, as Mordecai grumbled intelligibly. "What am I supposed to do? Suspend the work we have to do? or better yet am I supposed to send you and Lilith out on this? You two would kill each other before anything else got the chance." Roland looked to Lilith for a reaction but all she did was shrug in agreement. Roland rose to get Brick to move from the hospital to their rooms beside Scooter's shop. As much as Lilith despised Roland for various reasons she had to agree with him. He had kept them alive this far; beaten, scarred and tired but still alive. She turned to Mordecai and offered him a scowl before following after the others, feeling like a scolded child.

The dim cycle set on the run down eye-sores that served as the various buildings in New Haven. If the bright cycle was golden fire then no one could argue that this ghostly cold , silver dim was just as formidable and just as breath-taking. Lilith stood on the balcony and watched the people move around her; being in New Haven made her uneasy. Fyrestone had only one citizen and that had been enough for Lilith. Here she had a gun ready at every sound. She sighed and opted to go in and see what Brick's status was before she went mad from a lack of goings on.

Inside was sparse but accommodating. It had been so long since she had slept in an actual bed that she decided to forgo laying down until she needed to sleep, so worried was she that she simply would not get back up. Today had been taxing and it made her appreciate the small comforts. Brick lay resting, she decided he was not sleeping due to the lack of snoring and grunting. After setting her guns on the bed next to Brick's she walked to his bedside. She stopped for a moment and looked down at him, it was a strange view. Normally he towered over her, and the others to a lesser extent, seeing him just laying there seemed so wrong to her.

"What Lilith?" he groaned opening one eye.

"Just checking on my 'Animal'," she chuckled as he gave her room to sit by the arm that had not been burnt by the scythid "You scared me." she added placing a small hand on his large chest.

"I know," was his short reply as he put a hand on the side of her head over her ear. His eyes were alight with amusement but something else rested inside their blue depths. "Don't tell them, but it scared me too."

She didn't have to ask who he meant by "them", she knew he meant Roland and Mordecai. Brick worried about their opinions of him, everyone's opinions in fact. It was one of the things she had learned in the in the long time she had known him. "I won't tell...but..." she hesitated a moment, "What will happen to me if Zed can't help put you back together next time?" Her large gold eyes wavered for a moment and she closed them to clear away the sting. She held on waiting for the answer he was constructing, but it never came. Mordecai entered the room and paid them no notice as he sat on the bed across from Lillith's.

"Tomorrow," Brick began, "listen to Roland. I know it's hard for you to do what you're told but do it anyway. He's trained for things like this." Brick said covertly, dropping his hand from her face.

"I will." She answered in a dejected tone she'd not used since she was an adolescent on her own planet. Brick smiled weakly and Mordecai scoffed at her. Casting the Sniper and his bird a rankled glance she stood and sat on her own bed and busied herself with her guns. As she went through the motions of her routine she would glanced at Mordecai a scowl on her impish features. "_It was his fault!" _She thought to herself, _"His fault brick was hurt. His fault Brick and her could not casually talk." _ He and Roland changed how the Berserker acted just by being there. They turned him from the open and expressive man whom had become her family into a cold, closed off enigma. Tired she removed her vest and boots and put them next to her guns before she finally allowed herself the comfort of the mattress. Just as she had predicted she lay back and passed out instantly.


	2. Shadows Of Pandora

When Lilith awoke she found the others asleep, everyone but Roland. The bunk to the foot of Brick's was empty but the mussed up blankets told her he had been in since she had fallen asleep earlier. Sighing she holstered her revolver and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air and some quite from the snores of the other men. Outside she found Roland leaning on the railing and looking up at the alien sky. "Sorry," she whispered as she stepped out and quietly closed the door behind her.

"If you don't mind me asking , what is with you and Brick?" Roland asked his eyes still trained on the distant stars.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern." She said quietly and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Have it your way. Are you ready to go?" He stretched as he pushed himself to a standing position.

"Let me get the rest of my gear and I'll be ready to go. Give me two minutes." When he nodded his affirmation she returned inside.

Mordecai lay sleeping in his bed, incognizant to anything around him. Brick still snored lightly in the bed behind her. Quickly she inspected her weaponry, while all of her load outs were good she lacked enough ammo for a full load on her revolver. Stopping for a moment she realized the room had become quieter and the noises from behind her had stopped. Slowly she turned to look behind her, Brick looked her over.

"Will you do what I told you?" He asked looking at her very seriously.

"I'll do my best," She said smiling warmly at him.

Carefully he made room for her to sit again; this time when she sat beside him he placed his good arm around her waist. They sat like that quietly for what felt like forever before Brick broke the silence. "This will be a good opportunity for you to work with Roland solo." He said in a low tone not looking at her.

"You're not trying to get rid of me are you?" She mocked nervously

Brick took a deep breath and looked at her face before he spoke. "You asked me what happens to you..." He trailed off and looked away again. "I see how you look at Roland when you think no one is looking. I'm not the only one who hides from the others." He said sad and serious.

Lilith looked down down at his arm; the shear size of it made her hands look like those of a child. "But what about you?" She asked.

"We're something different; you know that. He lifted his head to look at her, "Go you're keeping him waiting." She nodded and kissed his cheek. "Take this." he added slipping his necklace over her head, the key and rabbit's foot hung almost to her waist line. Slowly she stood and wrapped the chain around her neck until the charms rested on her chest. She made it to the door before he spoke again. "Here," he sad tossing her rounds for her revolver. She smiled and nodded, touching the key, as she left the building.

Roland met her at the stairs outside. "Ready?" He asked glancing at her new jewelry then away.

"Ready as I ever am to be shot at. She said walking toward Scooter's and the town's Catch-A-Ride.

"Already got us one." He said climbing into the turret of a 'Mean Green'. Smiling she kept walking and changed the runner's paint to the 'Fuego' model and smiled at him before jumping in the cockpit.

"You're lucky I'm not Mordecai." Came Roland's voice over the runner's intercom system.

Strapping herself in she hit her own talk button. "I know I am, but don't we want to be noticed?" She said sarcastically. Before he could say anything else she turned on the lights and headed on toward the Rust Commons.

They drove through the dim cycle and and stopped in front of One-Eyed Jack's bandits made camp. Quietly she backed the runner behind the rock face to hide it. Roland dismounted the turret and motioned her over for the 'game plan', as Mordecai called it.

"We broke in here quietly last time." Roland began. Lilith however remembered it to be a bloody shoot out, and rised an eyebrow at him. "Okay maybe not that quietly. This time though I want you to post out on that out cropping and see how many of them you can take out before we just jump in there. What's your best zoom?"

"I got a 4.3 on my Maliwan." She said removing and loading the rifle.

"Good take this," He said handing her a Mod; "It'll regenerate your ammo. Go."

Without any more questions she equipped the Mod and scaled the stones the reach the out cropping Roland had indicated. Firstly she spotted and dispatched the Psychos; they could be the most dangerous to their mission, charging in fire in hand with no regard for themselves. The shots flew silently through the air and there were three less hostiles to worry about. A half a dozen other shots on varying targets and she had cleared Roland's entrance. Quietly she scaled down, rejoined Roland at the entrance, and covered him as they scouted this building or that shack. During the little excursion they had seen few enemies ; Lilith began to get an uneasy feeling as they made their way further toward the camp's center.

Crouched behind One-Eyed Jack's hut Roland waved her to him. "I want you to Phase in and put Jack down. I'll take care of anyone coming in or out."

"Far be it for me to complain but something seems wrong. Why aren't there more bandits? This all seems to easy." She voiced what had been running around her mind for sometime now.

"I notice but we'll deal with that problem when we get to it." Nodding she disappeared.

Normally her Phasewalk was a tool she exercised for speed but right now she'd use it to get in and back out, hopefully, without being detected. Inside she found out why they had not seen anyone difficult to kill before now; three Badass Psychos stood inside with four Bruisers and One-Eyed Jack. Releasing her Phasewalk inside she caused the room to erupt with Fire and Acid. Using her own entrance as a diversion she rushed from the building to tell Roland of the trap. On her way out the door she took a bullet to the shoulder; given it made a clean exit she decided it was far more important to get to Roland and inform him of the situation. She needn't bother to tell him as she found him swarmed with bandits and midgets. Grabbing her SMG once more, she made her way through the fray to Roland's side. "It's a trap! She yelled as she approached.

"Thanks Lilith. Not sure I would have figured that out." When they finally cleared enough room her dropped his personal turret. The turret rang out in three round bursts aiding them in clearing out some of the onslaught before One-Eyed Jack emerged and shot Lilith twice in the right side. Putting a hand over her wounds, and being thankful they were well grouped, she phased once more and appeared in an elemental burst of fury behind Jack with her bladed revolver in hand. Quickly she drove the blade into the back of Jack's neck severing his spine, killing him instantly. Leaving her weapon in him she drew her twelve round shotgun and put three incendiary rounds in to each of the four Bruisers. Pulling her electric clip repeater she killed what midget shotgunners she could as they appeared from around the buildings. Not being attentive to her surroundings she was blindsided by a Badass Psycho and thrown several feet in to the side of a building.

There was a tapping like the sound of flesh hitting flesh that came to Lilith as she began to come to again. She could feel fire under her skin that stretched from the left side of her body to her right. Her Siren skills were slowly trying to mend the damage that had occurred to her body. Suddenly there was a violent and painful connection to the side of her face and she snapped to a sitting position with her eyes open; a move she instantly regretted when her vision swam and her stomach lurched. She closed her eyes and held her head in her hands, her shoulder stinging from the movement. Roland dropped himself down into the dirt next to her, sighing in relief when he knew she would live.

"Thank god you woke up." Roland said breathing heavily. "I wasn't sure what I'd tell Brick. He'd kill me if I let his woman die."

"What?" Lilith asked groggy. "I'm not his woman. Where did you get that idea?"

"Well just how the two of you are. Why, you're not?" He asked curious.

"No I'm not. I don't really need someone to take care of me...Well not normally." She chuckled. "But you did a good job of it today." She said looking away from the eye contact Roland was trying to make.

"I could keep doing it if you want me too." He said helping her stand and bracing her with one arm.

Lilith turned her head slowly to look at him. "Huh?"

"I just thought if you wanted we could start seeing each other and I could keep taking care of you."

"You know what I think I might." She smiled at him and he shifted his arm to her waist tightening it. A shock of pain ran down her spine and her breath labored until the feeling subsided. "Maybe a visit to Zed before we do anything else."

He chuckled a bit, "We can do that." He said as he helped her load herself into the parked Runner's turret. Jumping into the driver's seat himself he risked a broad smile while no one was looking and headed them back to their waiting companions. With two of the four of them healing he'd have to suspend further searching for the vault; but he figured time with Lilith was worth it in trade. The blistering sun began it's slow lazy decent to the desert horizon as Roland drove them on ward.

Blood, bone, and pain aside if you asked either vault hunter about that day in the days that followed either one would tell you that it had been, all in all, a very good day and most definitely one that had changed their lives, mostly, for the better.


End file.
